Army is organized. The U. Since the end of the Vietnam War, the U. Army has been all-volunteer— meaning no one is drafted—and as always, everyone receives a salary. The three commanders of the U. General Creighton Abrams, from to General Frederick Weyand, from to A field army is the U.
The last use of a field army was in during Operation Desert Storm, which took place in Iraq, Kuwait, and outlying areas of Saudi Arabia. A four-star general commands a field army. The five-star rank of general has only been issued in times of war and the last to hold it was General Omar Bradley, who died in The other five-star generals in the history of the U.
The corps is treated as an operational unit of employment by the U. Army and can be comprised of 20,, soldiers. Both field forces were deactivated in The number of modular units in an Army division is flexible and the total number of soldiers is 10,, A two-star major general commands a division.
The 82nd Airborne Division, an elite infantry division specializing in parachute assault operations, entered Vietnam in Both airborne divisions were called to duty within the U. Brigades are made up of 2,, soldiers, normally split among three to five battalions.
The armed cavalry and ranger forces of this size are called regiments or groups, not brigades. Commanders of brigades or regiments are one-star brigadier generals or colonels. Paratrooper from the st Airborne Brigade applying mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to an injured soldier who was airlifted by helicopter to the medical clearing station near Kontum, Vietnam.
The rd Airborne Brigade was the first major United States Army ground formation deployed in Vietnam, serving from to and losing nearly 1, soldiers. The rd is best known for the Battle of Dak To , where along with the Marines, it suffered heavy casualties against the North Vietnamese. When the rd returned to the U.
Similarly, each corps, in addition to commanding its divisions, had additional military units under its own command, including additional artillery and tank battalions. By 1 August , the Americans had 21 divisions in Normandy, and Gen.
Bradley's 12th Army Group was established to command these divisions. They were divided into 2 armies the First and the Third with each containing 3 corps. When Germany surrendered on 7 May , the 12th Army Group commanded 4 armies, organized into 11 corps, containing 43 divisions. An additional American corps with 4 divisions was attached to the British 21st Army Group. British infantry divisions in World War II, in contrast to the case in World War I, grew larger rather than smaller as the war went on.
In September , a British infantry division organized into 3 brigades with 3 battalions per brigade numbered about 13, officers and men. The division contained a machine gun battalion men and 48 heavy MGs and 3 field artillery regiments each with men and 24 guns, either 4.
The infantry battalion numbered about men and was composed of 4 rifle companies and a headquarters company. The battalion was armed with rifles, 58 light machine guns, 14 mortars, and 22 anti-tank rifles. By , a British infantry division still organized into 3 brigades with 3 battalions per brigade numbered 18, officers and men and was, thus, larger than an American infantry division. The division still had 48 heavy MGs and 72 field guns these were now pdrs [87mm] , and the rifle battalions had increased only to officers and men.
The increase in the total number of men in the division was due mainly to increases in the size of supporting units e. The British armored division in numbered 14, officers and men, which made it also larger than the comparable American unit. The division had tanks as compared to the American and was supported with, among other arms, 48 pdrs.
In addition to its tanks, the division had armored cars, armored tracked vehicles, and trucks. German units in World War II are less easily described. In , the German army not only had five different kinds of divisions infantry, motorized infantry, armored, mountain, and light , there were five different kinds of infantry division.
The largest infantry division had 17, men organized in 3 regiments each with 3 battalions. The division was armed with 75 guns ranging from 75mm to mm ; mortars; 75 anti-tank guns; heavy and light machine guns; and 12 anti-aircraft guns. The smaller infantry divisions had some 15, men and were less heavily armed.
The German armored divisions in had about 11, men and tanks. The division was organized into 2 brigades. The tank brigade had two regiments, each with 4 battalions, and the infantry brigade had one regiment of motorized infantry and a number of supporting units e. In addition to its tanks, the division had 36 guns ranging from 75mm to mm ; 48 mortars; 48 anti-tanks guns; 46 heavy and light machine guns; and 12 anti-aircraft guns. When the Germans attacked in the west in May , they attacked with 3 army groups.
Army Group A von Rundstedt's had 3 armies comprising 13 corps and containing a total of 45 divisions. Of these 7 were armored, and their tank strength ranged from to , with an average of tanks per division. By , German infantry and armored divisions had changed significantly. The armored Panzer division now numbered 14, men and had about tanks. The division was organized into an armored regiment with two tank battalions and 2 regiments of infantry, each with 2 battalions, along with various supporting units reconnaissance, engineer, signal, etc.
In addition to its tanks, the division was armed with 77 guns ranging from 75mm to mm ; 70 mortars; 33 anti-tank guns; and machine guns; and some anti-aircraft guns. Waffen-SS armored divisions had 6 rather than 4 battalions of infantry, and some divisions totaled as many as 20, men. German motorized infantry divisions Panzer Grenadier , i. These were organized into 2 regiments, each with two battalions of infantry. These divisions were equipped with supporting units and weapons comparable to those of an armored division except that the motorized division had no tanks.
It did have 45 assault guns these guns were on an armored tank chassis but not in a traversing turret. Some German infantry divisions had 9 battalions and numbered about 15, men, but most infantry divisions were organized in 3 regiments with only 2 battalions per regiment. The 6-battalion divisions numbered about 12, men. The division was armed with 24 infantry guns and howitzers 75mm and mm ; 48 field and medium guns mm and mm ; 76 mortars; and light and heavy machine guns.
For transport, the division had motor vehicles and 1, horse-drawn vehicles. This page presents a comparative summary of the strengths of British, American, and German infantry and armored divisions in Although some of the numbers in this summary differ from those presented in this memorandum, the summary is close enough for illustrative purposes.
Bear in mind that these figures are authorized numbers. Actual strengths varied from unit to unit, and were always less after combat, especially in the case of German units. These numbers do not, of course, take account of any qualitative differences in the weapons involved.
German light MGs, for example, had a higher rate of fire than the British and American, and German tanks were better armed and armored than the Allied tanks but were mechanically less reliable. It is important to remember that each of these divisions was supported by a much larger number of men assigned to various other units corps, army, transport, supply, etc. On average, a British division was backed up by about 25, such men, and an American division was backed up by about 30, men.
In both armies, the resulting total, known as a "division slice," was about 42, men. A Soviet "Tank Corps" numbered 10, men and contained tanks. A Soviet "Mechanized Corps" numbered 16, men and had tanks. These "corps" are more comparable to Western divisions than to Western corps. Two or three of these units made up a Soviet "Rifle Corps," and about 3 of these made up a Soviet "Army," and a Soviet army group, called a "Front," contained from 3 to 9 Armies.
Military ranks also differed from country to country, and in the case of some countries even from war to war. To illustrate some of these differences, a page comparing American and German army and navy ranks is presented here. Throughout most of the Cold War, the United States deployed one army in Europe, together with some independent brigades and regiments. Upon mobilization, this army was to be reinforced by divisions brought from the United States.
The Army planned to fly the personnel of some divisions to Europe, where they would join with their equipment pre-positioned there, but most of these reinforcing divisions would have to come, as had their predecessors in World War I and II, by sea. The American army deployed in Europe had 2 corps and a total of 4 divisions.
Two of these divisions were armored, and two were mechanized. Mechanized divisions were developed after World War II. Near the end of that war, the United States formed additional tank battalions beyond those assigned to armored divisions and began to attach a tank battalion to each infantry division in order to increase its fighting power. After the war, infantry divisions were given their own tank battalions, and the resulting formation was called a mechanized division.
Both the armored and the mechanized divisions were subdivided into 3 brigades, but unlike the case with the regiments of the World War II divisions, the brigades did not have a fixed number of battalions assigned to them.
The division had the flexibility of assigning, for example, 3 or 4 battalions to a brigade. Since the armored and the mechanized divisions were now both composed of tank and infantry battalions now called mechanized battalions , the main difference between the two divisions was in the mix of these two kinds of battalions.
In , for example, an armored division had 6 tank battalions and 5 mechanized battalions. The division had 16, men and contained, among other units, tanks; armored personnel carriers; anti-tank missile launchers including 90 long-range TOW launchers ; 98 mm mortars; and 2, small arms.
The mechanized division had 4 tank battalions and 6 mechanized battalions. The division had 17, men and contained, among other units, tanks; armored personnel carriers; anti-tank missile launchers including TOW launchers ; mm mortars; and 3, small arms. Both divisions had the same units for artillery 54 mm guns and 12 8" guns [mm] ; aviation helicopters, including 51 attack helicopters ; and air defense 24 20mm Gatling guns, and 24 Chaparral missile launchers.
By and the end of the Cold War, the armored and mechanized divisions were almost identical in their composition and equipment except in the mix of their tank and mechanized battalions.
Each now contained 10 battalions.
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